Sustainable mountain development in East Africa in a changing climate

Mixed farming systems Mixed farming is a traditional practice that has evolved over a long time in farming communities throughout East Africa’s mountainous areas. The practice involves a combination of crops and livestock on the same farm unit. It also includes other forms of crop and livestock integration systems such as intercropping management, which are meant to promote diversified farm income and land husbandry, and maximize productivity per unit area, as well as improve soil erosion control and nutrient management. The practice also enhances food security and marketing opportunities, which, in turn, improve household incomes. Restoration of pasture for communal grazing and fodder management The restoration of degraded lands in livestock grazing communities, and in crop farming communities, is an important intervention for the sustainability of fragile land resources in mountainous regions. In many areas, communities have abandoned their land due to severe degradation, but after many years these lands have been able to recover. Consequently, many communities are beginning to adopt initiatives to restore degraded land. It is important for the government and other institutions to identify and collaborate with such communities to achieve a faster rate of a landscape recovery and restoration, especially in mountainous areas. The Humbo community in south-western Ethiopia, for example, obtains restored degraded grazing areas and farmlands by setting aside land for natural regeneration. The community is part of the Natural Regeneration Project, registered with the Clean Development Mechanism, which supports forest regeneration by using a variety of tree species through

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the Farmer-Managed Natural Forest Regeneration technique. As a result, more than 90 per cent of the area devoted to the Humbo community has been reforested. The initiative has resulted in the recovery of 2,728 ha of land (UNEP, 2014). Another example is that of the Kuwalla community in northern Ethiopia’s Amhara region. While many communities in the Ethiopian Highlands permit open access pasture grazing, the Kuwalla community uses a rotational grazing system to manage its communal pasture. The community developed the system after recognizing the negative impacts of the open access system, which they had

practised until 1990. Severe soil erosion and gully formation led to a loss of grazing land. The initiative was led by traditional leaders, who mobilized their communities and established rules and procedures for restoration processes, and collaborated with government agencies to secure support for the enforcement of the rules. The intervention helped to reduce grazing pressure and enabled the pastures to regenerate. This case study demonstrates that effective community-based pasture management can enable valuable fodder species to regenerate, ensuring adequate species of feed for livestock, particularly during critical times of the year (Kohler et al., 2014).

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